Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor Oscar for ‘The Whale,’ a transformative role in which he reignited a stellar career.

“I started in this business 30 years ago and things haven’t been easy for me,” an emotional Fraser said. “I can only thank you for this recognition.”

Fraser, like the other four nominees in the Best Actor category, was nominated for the first time, not seen since 1935. The other nominees were Austin Butler for “Elvis”, Colin Farrell for “The Banshees of Inisherin”. “Island Spirits”), Paul Mescal for “Aftersun” and Bill Nighy for “Living”.

In the film, Fraser plays Charlie, a reclusive, gay, 600-pound English-speaking college professor who seeks to reconnect with his teenage daughter.

Fraser said that early in his career he would not have had the life experience or heartbreak to authentically play a character living with heartbreak, pain and life-threatening obesity.

Fraser’s performance earned him standing ovations at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, and praise continued to rise throughout the fall and winter. In addition to receiving the best reviews of her career, she won a SAG Award from the Screen Actors Guild for her performance. Throughout all of these galas, she gave emotional acceptance speeches, unafraid to cry at times.

His story is one of a big comeback and that’s something Hollywood loves.

The 54-year-old Canadian-American actor rose to fame in the early 1990s with comedy “Encino Man” and drama “School Ties.” He also starred in “George of the Jungle” trilogy and “The Mummy” trilogy, in which he shared the credits with Michelle Yeoh, who won the ‘Oscar for Best Picture Sunday.Actress. He had dramatic roles in ‘Gods and Monsters’, ‘The Quiet American’ and ‘Crash,’ which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2006.

But he also participated in projects that failed.

And Fraser almost disappeared. He spent several years off the big screen dealing with a series of personal issues related to his divorce, the death of his mother, health issues and as the victim of alleged sexual misconduct by the then president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which awards the Globe for Gold. As a result, Fraser boycotted the Globe this year.

Fraser began to regain momentum in her career with a series of cable television shows before appearing in director Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” two years ago.